New tank - some thoughts!

Mike Ophir · Post by **Mike Ophir** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:11 pm

I agree with Mick. In fact, I would recommend B. kubotai over Clown Loaches for the set up you have. In my experience, B. kubotai have been gentler on plants and the like than Clown Loaches. Your substrate is excellent for burrowing, which is what B. kubotai love to do, so it looks like you are all set to go. Great looking tank!

Mike

Laura · Post by **Laura** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:01 pm

It's looking really good! In the earlier shots it looked like you had anubias buried in the sand, but in later shots it looked like it was attached to wood. (It's possible that it was a type of sword though)

As a word of warning, I had bamboo in one of my tanks that over a short period of time caused a buildup of very nasty smelly black gunk under them. I removed them and siphoned the area and haven't had any recurring problems. Mine was stacked though, so you should be able to clean around them well enough it may not be an issue. I think Emma keeps bamboo in her tanks so perhaps I had a different issue.

My tank is also tall - 61 cm/24". I have java fern tied to the top piece of some of the driftwood and some taller plants - crypt balansae looks really nice and I also have a crinium calamistratum but any of the other crinium plants would look nice.

Johanski · Post by **Johanski** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 4:29 pm

Thank you guys!

Mike:

Yea, I decided a while back thanks to loaches.com that I'm going for Kubotais instead. So I went and bought 5 kubotais, only that one of them turned out to be an Almorhae.. so I got those too

Lara:

Yea, it's "attached" to the wood, or well it's squeezed in between two big roots. The anubias' roots aint burried so it'll be fine!

Regarding the bamboo: I've noticed alot of white goo coming out of it, but the fishes just LOVE to eat it so I'm just leaving it in the tank. And it's beginning to get darker aswell, by algae and probably discolouration from the water. But I heard it's safe to have bamboo in the tank, even if it can smell disgusting.

Thanks for your comments, once again. I'll update with some more photos tomorrow, just did a water change in my tank and it should have cleared up by then.

Regards
Johan

Johanski · Post by **Johanski** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:35 pm

Well, some more pictures of my tank and the inhabitants of it

mickthefish · Post by **mickthefish** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:27 pm

brilliant pics johan, the tank looks really good.

mick

Johanski · Post by **Johanski** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:13 pm

Thank you Mick! Always good to hear.

Today the skinny Botia Kubotai looked really tired and extra skinny, so I took it out, removed the crayfish from my small 9 gallon tank and put it in a bucket. Put my kubotai in the small tank and he seems so happy! He's clicking like crazy and swimming around digging in the gravel. The small tank is pretty dirty, eventho i vaccuumed it today, but it doesn't seem to bother him. I hope he stays with me for a few days so I can fatten him up.

Hold your thumbs people

Johanski · Post by **Johanski** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:20 am

Look what i found at the LFS!!! What a beauty!

starsplitter7 · Post by **starsplitter7** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:53 am

Johanski wrote:Thank you Mick! Always good to hear.

Today the skinny Botia Kubotai looked really tired and extra skinny, so I took it out, removed the crayfish from my small 9 gallon tank and put it in a bucket. Put my kubotai in the small tank and he seems so happy! He's clicking like crazy and swimming around digging in the gravel. The small tank is pretty dirty, eventho i vaccuumed it today, but it doesn't seem to bother him. I hope he stays with me for a few days so I can fatten him up.

Hold your thumbs people

How is your Kubotai doing?

I love the expression "Hold Your Thumbs". In German it is "Press your thumbs", and in English it is "Cross your fingers". Doesn't matter how it is done, good luck to your fishie.

Ashleigh · Post by **Ashleigh** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:19 am

Johanski wrote:Thank you Mick! Always good to hear.

Today the skinny Botia Kubotai looked really tired and extra skinny, so I took it out, removed the crayfish from my small 9 gallon tank and put it in a bucket. Put my kubotai in the small tank and he seems so happy! He's clicking like crazy and swimming around digging in the gravel. The small tank is pretty dirty, eventho i vaccuumed it today, but it doesn't seem to bother him. I hope he stays with me for a few days so I can fatten him up.

Hold your thumbs people

Have you tried to treat for any internal parasites? The fact that hes active is a good sign-usually by the time they are just sitting there they have basically given up. Try numerous small feeds a day of brine shrimp, mosquite larvae ect, I found when any of my little ones were pinched in at the head they benefited from a good number of small feeds rather than a few large ones.

I hope he pulls through for you

Your tank is looking great, that new B.almorhae you added is a beauty

Ashleigh

Johanski · Post by **Johanski** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:03 pm

I left him to the store, the store owner was gonna try to get him to eat and he succeeded, and is now trying to medicate for internal parasites. If that makes him better I guess I'll have to medicate my tank for it, i see some skinnier fish and it's making me paranoid. What is a good medication to use?

Anyways, two of my biggest almorhaes here:

Johanski · Post by **Johanski** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:10 pm

Re-scaped my tank today.. again!

The botias seem to be wondering what's above the water surface, as they have begun jumping a bit at the bamboo sticking up above the watersurface

Also got a picture of one of my young Almorhae, it's constantly swimming around the front glass, back and forth back and forth. It's been doing it for some weeks now, any ideas? When I turn the lights off it seems they begin to scavenge the gravel for food tho..

Enjoy

mickthefish · Post by **mickthefish** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:28 pm

like it alot Johan, it's randomness makes it more natural.

mick

Johanski · Post by **Johanski** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:27 pm

Thanks alot Mick! I really appreciate any feedback, so if you think there's something weird about the setup please let me know!

Also edited the second pic that didn't work.

And another thing: My botia kubotai whom was skinny is now beginning to fatten up, the local fish store owner said he could help me out, and treated it for internal parasites. It's now eating and messing around in one of the tanks he has. So he soon returns to me!

Also, I've had a death in my tank. I got some internal parasites on my barbs, white "bumpy" poo and they got skinny fast, i treated it with Seras flagellol. This was just a few days ago, and I'm suspecting atleast one more barb will die, it's not looking good anyway.

Other fish, including the botias, seem fine.. which is good. I'm hoping it all goes away.

chelms166 · Post by **chelms166** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:01 pm

I absolutely love what you've done there. Simplistic setup, but the aquascaping is wonderfully natural looking. I like those bamboo posts in there also. Nice little caves for loaches to sleep in. I'm looking to get a bigger tank (125g) and was worried about having to get an expensive stand for it, but seeing yours has given me great ideas. Thanks for sharing.

mack · Post by **mack** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:41 pm

Hi,
Your tank looks awesome. Your planting and planting them look great.
Thanks for sharing your pics,
mack

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